Come along virtually with the Baker Family as they live the cruising chapter of their lives!

Monday, November 3, 2008

F & G Dock Halloween

Baker Pirates ready to Trick-or-Treat on F & G Docks

We had this crazy idea to tag along with some live-aboard pros down at Shilshole for Halloween. The "Ghostsailors" were amenable to having some company on their rounds of F and G docks. (F & G docks are mentioned together alot because we share the same marina gate, so we all see each in the same parking area and at the top of the dock.) Because Angela has had kids for most of the years that she and her husband have lived on their boat, she knows that a little planning has to go into these kind of events. She posted a sign-up sheet at the gate for anyone interested in participating in the kids' trick-or-treating rounds. Most of our live-aboard neighbors were game so that gave about 20 boats to visit. It was a toss-up on who was more exciting the kids: two pirates, a skeleton and blue angels flying ace or the folks on their boats. Armed with Hot Apple Pies to keep us warm (it was a beautiful evening and we probably didn't really need them, but I think the drinks allowed the 3 adults to chill a little about the massive amounts of candy our children were collecting), we started off on the far end of F-dock. Quite a few of the boats were "decorated" and even the residents came to the hatch (don't know how you refer to entryway on a powerboat - help me out here) dressed in costumes. The first person to ask for a trick got all four kids standing on one leg (it was the first thing that came to my mind). After that, the kids came up with knocking on the hull, then crouching below the boat's and yelling "Trick or Treat" when someone came out - better "trick"! We wound our way around the head of the two docks and started down G-dock meeting more people that we don't see as often, but who still seem familiar. We met the parrot that I had been hearing all summer (thinking that I might just have been hearing things). S/V Ghost was the last stop where Angela and Scott prepared to host a Halloween Dock Party. I supervised the first look in light at the candy the kids had collected. O-M-G!!!!! When all four of the dumped out their haul, it covered the entire main saloon of Ghost (I know most boats don't have much floor space, but this was actually a fairly large area). There was an initial sort and then we decided that maybe we go check on Brad who was manning the door back at the house, but hadn't been feeling that well. When we arrived back the house, the boys combined all their candy and then weighed it - 17 pounds. Thank goodness that Austin's class celebrates the holiday by seeing how much candy they can bring in the next day and donate to Childhaven! Most of it has left the house, however, I must say that somehow I was talked into having a basket for the house and for the boat!This dock community is very friendly and seem very close-knit. It makes us get very excited to become a part of it all (still hoping for moving aboard after the holidays). Our immediate neighbors are both live-aboards and we feel very lucky to have gotten the slip between them, but it is even nicer to know that their welcoming attitude premeates both of these docks.